The bank said this made the tie-up its most successful charity partnership to date. The amount raised was double the £500,000 target.

The charity, which had an income of £138m in 2011, will use most of the money to fund 43,000 hours of Marie Curie home nursing care; £140,000 will go towards the development of its new hospice in the West Midlands.

Staff fundraising efforts included a Great Wall of China trek, which raised £200,000, tournaments based on the 1970s television gameshow It’s a Knockout! and the Santander Flame Relay – those last two raised £60,000 each.

Fabian French, fundraising director at Marie Curie Cancer Care, said: "The funds raised by our partnership will help us ensure more terminally ill people get the care and support they need, in the place of their choice. I would like to thank everyone at Santander for the time and effort given to making this partnership such a success."

Charlotte Hogg, head of retail distribution and intermediaries at Santander, said: "Raising £1m is a fantastic achievement, something we are tremendously proud of."

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